Join the mailing list Printer-friendly version

COUGHLIN STOIA GELLER RUDMAN & ROBBINS LLP FILES CLASS ACTION SUIT AGAINST ISTAR FINANCIAL INC.

New York – April 14, 2008 – Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP (“Coughlin Stoia”) (http://www.csgrr.com/cases/istarfinancial/) today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of the common stock of iStar Financial Inc. (“iStar Financial” or the “Company”) (NYSE:SFI) pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s secondary public offering on or about December 13, 2007 (the “Secondary Offering”), seeking to pursue remedies under the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”).

If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Samuel H. Rudman or David A. Rosenfeld of Coughlin Stoia at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@csgrr.com. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action online at http://www.csgrr.com/cases/istarfinancial/. Any member of the purported class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.

The complaint charges iStar Financial and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Act. iStar Financial operates as a finance company focusing on the commercial real estate industry.

According to the complaint, on or about October 9, 2007, iStar Financial filed a Form S-3 Shelf Registration Statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On or about December 13, 2007, iStar Financial filed a Prospectus Supplement to the Shelf Registration Statement (the “Registration Statement”) with respect to the secondary offering, which forms part of the Registration Statement, and more than 8 million shares of iStar Financial common stock were sold to the public at $28.41 per share, thereby raising more than $227 million.

The complaint alleges that the Registration Statement negligently failed to disclose that the Company was then being negatively impacted by the adverse conditions in the credit markets and was failing to recognize more than $200 million of losses on its corporate loan and debt portfolio.

On February 28, 2008, iStar Financial issued a press release announcing its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2007 and fiscal year 2007, the period ending December 31, 2007. For the fourth quarter, the Company reported a loss of ($78.7 million) or ($0.62) per share. The Company further reported that its fourth quarter financial results were impacted by $134.9 million of charges associated with the “impairment of two credits” and that the Company had increased its loan loss provisions by $113 million. In response to this announcement and subsequent analyst downgrades, the price of iStar Financial stock declined from $22.85 per share on February 27, 2008, to $13.98 per share on March 6, 2008.

Plaintiff seeks to recover damages of all those who purchased the common stock of iStar Financial pursuant and/or traceable to the Company’s secondary public offering on or about December 13, 2007. The plaintiff is represented by Coughlin Stoia, which has expertise in prosecuting investor class actions and extensive experience in actions involving financial fraud.

Coughlin Stoia, a 180-lawyer firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D.C., Houston and Philadelphia, is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers, and companies, as well as victims of human rights violations. Coughlin Stoia lawyers have been responsible for more than $45 billion in aggregate recoveries. The Coughlin Stoia Web site (http://www.csgrr.com) has more information about the firm.